When reality becomes too hard to handle, the magic of entertainment does a wonderful job of transporting us into the world of illusion.

Magicians and spin doctors are frequently observed in the medical domain, too.

We are told emphatically time and again diet has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Which leads me to wonder what exactly humans consist of.

Once upon a time, little girls were made of sugar and spice and all things nice and little boys were made of frogs and snails and puppy-dogs tails.

These days, our bodies are more likely to contain a potent blend of artificial additives and preservatives.

Some might argue one requires a synthetic body to live in a synthetic environment but I suspect this is just wishful thinking.

Schools across the country have noticed a remarkable improvement in their pupils academic performance and conduct when they ban the witchs brew of sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks.

According to orthodox opinion, these results cant be achieved by improving their diet so someone must be casting spells on these kids to change their behaviour.

In my own practice, the following three cases provide further evidence of hocus pocus:

Nina came to see me with headaches and explained she had been taking daily doses of paracetamol for years to suppress the pain.

Her diet sheet revealed an intake of ten cups of coffee per day so I advised her to reduce caffeine slowly and to drink more water.

A week later, she was both headache and drug-free. A simple case of random luck?

Debbie has ulcerative colitis and has been told she may eat whatever she likes as diet is not supposed to affect her symptoms.

But after three weeks of avoiding meat and wheat while increasing her intake of vegetables and fish, her symptoms have improved to such an extent that she is able to reduce her steroid medication.

Could it be her digestive system cares about what it receives?

When Jeff first came to see me, his toenails were dropping off, he was suffering from chronic fatigue and unable to work.

Two months after embarking on an intensive nutritional programme, his nails are regrowing and he feels such an improvement he now works part-time for a major retailer in Brighton.

Mind over matter? Surprisingly, neither witchcraft nor magic potions were involved but sound nutritional principles.

All three clients achieved positive results by applying these and helping themselves.

What a pity modern medicine man chooses to remain in the Dark Ages by ignoring the origins of chronic degenerative disease.

My crystal ball predicts many people will continue to visit complementary health practitioners who practise a more relevant kind of mumbo jumbo.